Hexyz Force: The Tweetview

Of late, I’ve started to dip my toes into Hexyz Force, one of Sting’s recent babies being published by Atlus USA in North America. Don’t let the name fool you — Hexyz Force isn’t a puzzle game of some sort; it’s a turn-based RPG, and a pretty good one at that.

I haven’t played enough of the localized game yet to be able to write up a proper playtest — although, you can read our import playtest here — but I have been tweeting about it, along with Kris Knigge, co-host of the SEGA Addicts Podcast, and known to some of you as TheCleaningGuy in the comments. So, without further ado, here are two days worth of Hexyz Force tweets in our first tweetview! And yes, somehow, amidst all the tweeting, we manage to avoid any plot spoilers.

Day 1

Ish_Siliconera: I feel ashamed for not paying attention to Hexyz Force before. I just started playing and I like it already. 3:42 PM Apr 26th

I think Atlus made a big mistake shipping out review copies so early (like 1-2 weeks ago?)

By the time the game finally comes out (in 3 weeks) every one is going to be so sick of hearing about it, they won’t buy it. At least that’s the case with me. If I could buy it now, I would. But in 3 weeks, Mod Nation Racers will be out, and Disgaea Infinite will be right around the corner. So I won’t buy it until it hits the bargain bin.

TNA_Lewis

…since ATLUS already made the price pretty cheap to begin with, I wonder how cheap it’ll be when you buy it.

TNA_Lewis

…since ATLUS already made the game pretty cheap to begin with, I wonder how cheap it’ll be when you buy it.

Kris

See, in a way, I think it’s good that they did that. So far, there has been practically no hype for the game (perhaps because it’s a Sting game without their traditional character designer), but I think that stuff like this will raise some interest. As I said, I didn’t really know or care about the game before I saw how much Ishaan was enjoying it. Hexyz Force has such a nondescript name, I think that the only way it will gain any popularity is through word of mouth like this.

Personally, I’m now really looking forward to this. Hopefully more people get interested in it.

Shadow_Raskolnik

Actually I think this is the artist (Sunaho Tobe) who also designs characters for their other games. The art is similar to that of Riviera, Knights in the Nightmare, and Yggdra Union (the card designs).

Either way I’m looking forward to this game, Sting hasn’t let me down yet with their games recently.

Shadow_Raskolnik

Actually I think this is the artist (Sunaho Tobe) who also designs characters for their other games. The art is similar to that of Riviera, Knights in the Nightmare, and Yggdra Union (the card designs).

Anyway I’m also looking forward to this game, Sting hasn’t let me down yet with their games recently.

Shadow_Raskolnik

Actually I think this is the artist (Sunaho Tobe) who also designs characters for their other games. The art is similar to that of Riviera, Knights in the Nightmare, and Yggdra Union (the card designs).

Either way I’m looking forward to this game, Sting hasn’t let me down yet with their games recently.

kupomogli

Wait until one of Amazon’s daily video game deals. Cheap price and you won’t have to wait for so long.

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

I’m with CleaningGuy on this one…HF is so obscure, I think the early coverage will only help it. Especially with PSP owners’ eyes already on Persona 3 Portable, it’s a good time to introduce other stuff to them.

malek86

HF is obscure enough, that it makes me wonder why they felt the need to release it the same week as Lunar in Japan. Well, they did end up selling about the same, but still.

kupomogli

@Ishaan. What’s the firmware required? I have custom firmware so wondering if I’ll be able to play it. I can’t play a couple games I own but I own a second PSP that I’m thinking of getting rid of CF.

Also what’s the battle system play like?

malek86

A sort of mix between Riviera, Evolution and Chrono Cross.

It’s turn based, but stronger attacks will delay your turn more. You have a base weapon which attacks indefinitely, while other weapons will exhaust after a number of uses. Enemies and allies stay in three “rows”, and being in the far row means you won’t be hit by some attacks, and get less damage by all others, while doing less damage yourself. Enemies and allies all have an “element”, and if you can chain them in sequences, you’ll do more damage as long as the chain keeps going.

kupomogli

Thanks malek86, thanks Ishaan.From what malek86 said about the battle system and how much you seemed to like it above I’ll probably like it. I love RPGs especially if they’ve got a decent battle system. I’ll have to upgrade my PSP unfortunately, but I have a second one so I don’t mind using that one to play my purchased games and the other for everything else and purchased games that are 5.00 or below.

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

It made me install 6.20 before I could start playing. Before that, I think I was on 5.50 or something. The battle system is actually rather complex, and I’m still trying to figure it out entirely myself, which is a big part of why there’s no playtest yet.

malek86

Can’t wait. I already bought the PSN cards. It’s going to replace my current japanese version.

http://thrust-the-sky.deviantart.com/ WildArms

Every sting game is a must buy for me

9inchsamurai

The combat system sounds promising, but I’m more curious about the quality of the story and characters. I know it’s supposed to be “2 stories in 1,” and that’s a good selling point for me, but I just hope the writing isn’t typical jRPG stuff.

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

I like the characters, personally. I’m playing through Levant’s story, and so far, the characters have been interesting enough to hold my attention. I tend to appreciate good characters more than anything in a role-playing game, so I think it’s safe to say HF does a decent job at the very least. The voices kind of help because they sound a lot more grown-up than you’d expect them to.

Joanna

Sounds like an awesome RPG….and yet another reason for me to pick up a PSP. xD

http://thrust-the-sky.deviantart.com/ WildArms

Hey ishaan, have you reached the point where the parties meet? Try to be as spoiless possible… xD, im just wondering how much is the interaction between the two parties of the 2 stories, if there is a lot involved, or just a “hi and bye~” :P?

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

I’m at the point where they meet for the second time. The first time is more of a fleeting hi and bye — the second time is a little more significant.

http://terracannon876.livejournal.com Laura

You meet a few times until one point … say … 2/3 through the game, where they join. However, the things the other party does directly affects the other party, especially since we’re dealing with one set of villains and locations here.

http://terracannon876.livejournal.com Laura

You can no longer make fun of me for wanting to replay the game a third time. Granted … one time was as Levant and the other was as Cecilia, so does that count as “playing through again?”

I’m interested in knowing what the Dalai Lama was tweeting about in between your tweets, haha.

I’m glad you like it. This game definitely was one of the ones that went under the radar, marketing-wise.

Vino (Tim N)

The tweets have got me really interested in this game, I’m totally going to pick it up, and my PSP needs to be dusted off, I barely use that thing even though I keep buying games for it.
And I thought it was a puzzle game at first too because of the name.

Soma

Dammit, Ishaan! I was going to pass on this game since I’m kind of broke after the Japan trip and have a huge backlog of games, but after reading about how much you’re enjoying it … well, I’m going to end up buying it.

vrakanox

Thanks for the info Ishaan this one sounds right up my alley. The dark side main character looks badass.

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